The day featured better weather than forecasted, a good crowd and a great start for this year's campaign. It started on a somber note with a moment of silence in honor of Virginia Tech. From that point the game was off to a great start with a 59 yard bomb from Ryan to Megwa up the left side for a TD. The game rotated starting offense vs starting defense to 2nd team vs 2nd team. Short passing game, basic run packages and play action were the theme of the day. The best news is that with a healthy Matt Ryan and 44 letter winners returning, 7 starters on offense, 9 on defense and 2 special teams - BC can focus on stepping up to a higher profile bowl and challenging for the ACC title.

There was a new setup for the game with the new staff. The QB's wore green jerseys and if the D could touch them, it was an automatic sack. That didn't seem to be a big impact, there was only one play where Ryan was able to dump off to a RB that the refs blew the play dead that probably would have been a short completion. The scoring system gave credits for the defense creating turnovers, 3 and outs, forced punts, the offense got normal points plus points for first downs and 30+ yard plays. So the score didn't mean much in a traditional football sense.

Key to the game: Ryan is back and healthy.

Ryan under center

With all the talk of recruiting mobile QB's, I was a little concerned I was going to see Navy's wishbone offense - not the case. I focused my attention on offense, since that side of the ball had the most changes. The offense for the game was pretty vanilla, the one thing I noticed more of was passes to tight ends into the middle of the field instead of cutting out towards the outside. Rich Gunnell, #18 seemed to be Ryan’s favorite target on the day. #80 Purvis had a nice catch, about 15 yards up field then he took a big hit and kept going for 5 more yards on a play that looked like the Tight Ends Streak play from EA Sports NCAA 2004. There weren’t a lot of chances to judge Ryan’s mobility – credit the offensive line for that – but he looked healthy in 1 rollout, and late in the game the defense flushed him out of the pocket, where he scrambled right and threw a laser on the move. Sitting down close to the field instead of my usual seats up in CC I realized just how hard and fast he throws the ball.

Ryan about to hand off

Crane and Ryan were the only 2 QB’s to play in the game, probably due to the QB that transferred. Crane had a solid outing. The play that showed his ability the most was hitting a difficult out that was about a 12 yard gain to #15, junior John Hovsepian. Crane mostly ran the 2nd team WR and RB’s. He dumped off a pass with the D right in his face to #6 Jeff Smith, who tipped the ball slightly, then caught it and hung on when he was clobbered. Good to see him hang on to that ball – it was the kind of lick that makes the crowd go “uuuuggh” when it is your guy getting hit.

Crane lets go with the D right in his face

LV Whitworth looked faster to me but there is no way I can quantify that. He had some nice runs to the outside. On the day, the runs were straight hand offs for the whole game, some inside and some sprints off tackle, no tosses or pitch outs. For the first 3 quarters the defense led by coach McGovern’s linebackers really held the running game down. As a group, the running backs averaged 2.6 yards per carry on the day, which is a credit to the D line and linebackers. Kevin Akins was involved in a lot of plays. Mark Herzlich #94, had probably the 2 biggest hits of the day.

The most disappointing thing on the day was that Fox went down with what looked like a broken ankle. Hopefully he’ll heal well and strong and be back for the summer.

Defense stuffs the run

You have to smile hearing the name Flutie called over the Alumni loud speakers. #14 had one of the best plays of the day, more on that below. He was also punting, with Ayers playing baseball versus Va Tech. Unlike the spring game 10 years ago that I remember the same O-Line having to play for 2 teams, the only time they mixed squads was on punt coverage. Obie never punted in spring games, this game they punted in the first half only, and I suspect the returners were told to only fair catch. The orange head covers were for players swapping squads for punt coverage. The “reading of the names of players who made every spring practice” routine was also dropped from this half time, the half time highlight was Jamie Silva winning the Jay McGillis award.

Flutie punting

Play of the game #1: Opening drive, Ryan hits Megwa in stride up the left side for a 59 yard TD. Ball caught about the 10 and he took it in from there.

Defensive play of the game #1: Ryan tried to go back to a similar play running a very deep flag route, #27 DeJuan Tribble broke under it for the pick.

Play of the game #2: Crane throws a deep bomb down the right side, the defensive back reacts well and gets a hand on it, Flutie still able to pull down the tipped ball for a huge gain, setting up AJ Brooks short dive for a TD.

2 minute drill: To end the game, with about 2 and a half minutes to go, Ryan and starting offense start from their own 25. Here’s how it went:

• 1st play: Pass to Gunnell on an out, 1st down.
• 2nd play: Thrown underneath to LV Whitworth releasing for 8 yards
• 3rd play: LV for 7 yards, first down, timeout.
• 4th play: Deep out to Gunnell, broken up by #43 AJ Ajudua
• 5th play: Corner route for 15 yard gain to #2 Brandon Robinson 1st down.
• 6th play: Gunnell crossing route 12 yards, 1st down, goal to go on the 9 with 46 seconds left
• 7th play: Sack #92 Allan Smith, loss of about 10
• 8th play: spike ball. Now 3rd and goal from about the 18
• 9th play: Pass into the end zone towards Gunnell, Ajudua breaks it up
• 10th play: Defense sends pressure up the middle, forcing Ryan to roll right. Flag goes down for holding. WR had run to the rear post, breaks back towards the middle. Ryan throws a laser complete in the end zone. Would have been a TD, but the flag was down. There was about 9 seconds left. I was curious to see if the coaches would mess with the rules to let them make another play, but that was where it ended. But it was a well run, well executed drive, with all the offense on the same page. The defense made it tough, and who knows how it would have worked out in a real game. But considering how good this team was in close games last year – the team seemed to be clicking more than I’d expect with a new coach and new offensive coordinator. That speaks to preparation and experience on both sides of the ball.

Bottom line: Beautiful day with a nice event beforehand for the kids, I recommend the spring game every year as a great take. Best of all…BC always wins!